Michael Hiltzik: In blow to anti-trans bigots, judge finds Florida's treatment ban unconstitutional
A federal judge in Tallahassee left few doubts the other day about what he thought of Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis' assault on healthcare for transgender Floridians.
"For many years, Florida's Medicaid system paid for medically necessary treatments for gender dysphoria," Judge Robert L. Hinkle wrote on June 21. "Recently, for political reasons, Florida adopted a rule and then a statute prohibiting payment for some of the treatments."
Hinkle invalidated the rule and the law as unconstitutional acts of discrimination against transgender people and ordered coverage restored. He went further. He ascribed the policy to pure anti-transgender bigotry and implied that at least one of the state's witnesses defending the policies had lied.
A Clinton appointee, Hinkle ridiculed the state's contention that treating gender dysphoria, in which patients feels
